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Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan Quotes

Astronomer

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Famous Carl Sagan Quotes

“There is much that science doesn't understand, many mysteries still to be resolved. In a Universe tens of billions of light-years across and some ten or fifteen billion years old, this may be the case forever. We are constantly stumbling on new surprises”

YearsMayStillsLightUniverseCasesForeverMysteryTenSurpriseBillionsFifteenStumblingLight Years
Book:Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
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“An atheist is someone who is certain that God does not exist, someone who has compelling evidence against the existence of God. I know of no such compelling evidence. Because God can be relegated to remote times and places and to ultimate causes, we would have to know a great deal more about the universe than we do now to be sure that no such God exists. To be certain of the existence of God and to be certain of the nonexistence of God seem to me to be the confident extremes in a subject so riddled with doubt and uncertainty as to inspire very little confidence indeed.”

KnowsLittlesDoeSeemsCertainUniverseCausesDealsExistenceDoubtAtheismSubjectsInspireEvidenceUltimateAtheistExtremesUncertaintyCompellingSkepticismGod ExistsExistence Of God
Author:Carl Sagan
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“For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in a routine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner ... on an unexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billion galaxies. ... That is the fundamental fact of the universe we inhabit, and it is very good for us to understand that.”

FactsPoliticalUniverseStarsAtheismHumilityPlanetsFundamentalsVery GoodIntelligenceCornersBillionsStuckRoutineObscureGalaxyConceitCenter Of The UniverseHumdrum
Author:Carl Sagan
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“The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.”

ThinkingEarthUniverseCompassionBloodStageHumilityMastersGloryRiversHatredCornersEndlessCrueltyTriumphCosmosCosmicPaleMisunderstandingArenaEmperorFractionsDotsMomentaryVastnessFerventCosmic ConsciousnessPale Blue DotAcross The UniverseAstronomy And UniversePixels
Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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“(When asked merely if they accept evolution, 45 percent of Americans say yes. The figure is 70 percent in China.) When the movie Jurassic Park was shown in Israel, it was condemned by some Orthodox rabbis because it accepted evolution and because it taught that dinosaurs lived a hundred million years ago-when, as is plainly stated at every Rosh Hashonhan and every Jewish wedding ceremony, the Universe is less than 6,000 years old.”

IfsYearsReligionUniverseAcceptingMillionsFiguresTaughtEvolutionPercentHundredYears AgoAtheistIsraelChinaAcceptedParksOrthodoxCeremonyDinosaursRabbiWedding CeremonyJurassic Park
Book:Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
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“A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science, might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths. Sooner or later such a religion will emerge.”

MightAbleScienceSpiritReligionSpiritualityUniverseAtheismModernDrawsAweReverenceConventionalReservesSooner Or LaterStressedAgnosticismModern ScienceOrganized ReligionMagnificencePantheismPale Blue DotAstronomy And Universe
Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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“For myself, I like a universe that, includes much that is unknown and, at the same time, much that is knowable. A universe in which everything is known would be static and dull, as boring as the heaven of some weak-minded theologians. A universe that is unknowable is no fit place for a thinking being. The ideal universe for us is one very much like the universe we inhabit. And I would guess that this is not really much of a coincidence.”

ThinkingWould BeScienceUniverseHeavenKnownKnowledgeFitIdealsWeakBoringBoredomDullCoincidenceTheologianStatic
Book:Broca's brain: reflections on the romance of science
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“I believe that even a smattering of such findings in modern science and mathematics is far more compelling and exciting than most of the doctrines of pseudoscience, whose practitioners were condemned as early as the fifth century B.C. by the Ionian philosopher Heraclitus as “nigh -walkers, magicians, priests of Bacchus, priestesses of the wine-vat, mystery-mongers.” But science is more intricate and subtle, reveals a much richer imiverse, and powerfully evokes our sense of wonder.”

ImportantScienceNightUniverseWonderVirtueMysteryCenturyExcitingMathematicsWinePhilosopherDoctrineBeing TrueSubtlePriestsCompellingMagicianFifthEvokeIntricateWalkersSense Of WonderPseudoscienceBacchusVatPriestesses
Author:Carl Sagan
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“We on Earth have just awakened to the great oceans of space and time from which we have emerged. We are the legacy of 15 billion years of cosmic evolution. We have a choice: We can enhance life and come to know the universe that made us, or we can squander our 15 billion-year heritage in meaningless self-destruction. What happens in the first second of the next cosmic year depends on what we do, here and now, with our intelligence and our knowledge of the cosmos.”

KnowsYearsFirstsMadeSelfHappensEarthChoicesUniverseNextSpaceDependsEvolutionOceanDestructionBillionsLegacyCosmosHeritageMeaninglessCosmicTime And SpaceHere And NowAwakenedSelf DestructionVastness
Author:Carl Sagan
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“We've tended in our cosmologies to make things familiar. Despite all our best efforts, we've not been very inventive. In the West, Heaven is placid and fluffy, and Hell is like the inside of a volcano. In many stories, both realms are governed by dominance hierarchies headed by gods or devils. Monotheists talked about the king of kings. In every culture we imagined something like our own political system running the Universe. Few found the similarity suspicious.”

StoriesRunningPoliticalCultureUniverseFoundHeavenEffortHellKingsDevilWestFamiliarDespiteRealmsHierarchySuspiciousSimilarityPolitical SystemsCosmologyDominanceVolcanoesBest EffortFluffyPlacid
Book:Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
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“What a splendid perspective contact with a profoundly different civilization might provide! In a cosmic setting vast and old beyond ordinary human understanding we are a little lonely, and we ponder the ultimate significance, if any, of our tiny but exquisite blue planet, the Earth.... In the deepest sense the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is a search for ourselves.”

IfsHumansLittlesDifferentMightEarthUniverseUnderstandingPlanetsPerspectiveCivilizationOrdinaryLonelyUltimateBlueTinySettingContactSettingsSignificanceCosmicSplendidExquisitePonderingExtraterrestrialBlue Planet
Author:Carl Sagan
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“The Universe forces those who live in it to understand it. Those creatures who find everyday experience a muddled jumble of events with no predictability, no regularity, are in grave peril. The Universe belongs to those who, at least to some degree, have figured it out.”

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Book:Broca's brain: reflections on the romance of science
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